💡 Premium Supporter recap + fact-based optimistic news
♀️ Significant progress for women's rights. 💥 Thousands of square kilometers cleared of landmines in Cambodia. 🔋 Solar panels and batteries dominate new power generation in the US.
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📖 What creates golden ages and why do they end?
Johan Norberg has released a new book, about which he has written a piece for Warp News. He has managed to achieve something as unusual as a history book that is super relevant for the current day. The Economist sounds like Chandler in Friends: "Could a history book be more timely?"
For those of us who have read all of Norberg's books, it's a familiar theme: What creates progress?
This time, Norberg has delved even deeper into what he has touched upon in other books: The rise and fall of historical golden ages. Why did Athens flourish during a certain period and why did that period end? From Abbasid Baghdad came algebra and modern medicine, why didn't the development continue?
And of course the crucial question: What do these lessons tell us about our time?
Norberg gives a longer answer in his book and a shorter answer in this text: How golden ages are created, how they end – and what it says about our time.
The book can be purchased from Amazon or ordered directly from the publisher Atlantic Books.
Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist
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📖 Johan Norberg: How golden ages are created, hot they end - and what it says about our time
Why do some societies become creative powerhouses while others stagnate? From Renaissance Florence to today's Silicon Valley, Norberg examines what makes civilizations flourish - and what threatens our own golden age.
💡 Fact-based optimistic news of the week
🦠 AI solved research puzzle about resistant bacteria in two days, which had taken researchers ten years
Researchers got help from Google's AI tool "co-scientist" to solve a complex problem about antibiotic resistance in just two days. The tool also provided additional hypotheses that researchers are now investigating, demonstrating its potential in scientific research.
🔋 Solar panels and batteries dominate new power generation in the US in 2025
Solar energy and battery storage will account for 81 percent of the total capacity increase, with solar energy representing over 50 percent. While renewable energy grows, coal power continues to decrease. The US will decommission twice as much coal power capacity this year compared to last year.
💥 Thousands of square kilometers cleared of landmines in Cambodia
Nearly 3,300 square kilometers of land have been cleared of mines since 1992. 81 percent of the cleared land is now used for agriculture, benefiting over 10 million people. The number of accidents has decreased dramatically from 4,320 in 1996 to only 49 during 2024.
🦋 Scientists observe 'Hofstadter's butterfly' for the first time
Scientists have measured the energy levels of electrons in a new quantum material and discovered that they follow a fractal pattern, known as "Hofstadter's butterfly." It has been theoretically predicted since 1976 but has now been directly observed for the first time in a real material.
♀️ Significant progress for women's rights over 30 years
90% of the world's countries have enacted laws against violence against women and girls. The proportion of women in parliaments has more than doubled since 1995. 53% of member countries have implemented gender-responsive laws and policies for climate and environmental measures.
📉 UK greenhouse gas emissions drop to lowest level since 1872
Coal usage in the country fell to the lowest level since 1666. The number of electric vehicles increased by almost 40% during 2024, contributing to reduced oil demand despite increased traffic on the roads.
🌊 Abundant water from primordial supernovae at cosmic dawn
Researchers have discovered that the first water in the universe formed 100-200 million years after the Big Bang. Dense molecular cloud cores in supernova remnants proved to be the primary sites of water production, with concentrations almost as high as in our solar system today.
🎙️ AI talk or master class?
I'm giving a lot of talks and master classes on AI in several different countries. Happy to come to your organization.
Learn more at mathiassundin.org.
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